The present invention is an improvement over the battery disclosed in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 136,935, filed Apr. 3, 1980 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,273, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The battery disclosed therein comprises a plural cell array having the size of a conventional "C" or "D" dry cell that utilizes a lithium halide electrochemical system. Prior to the invention disclosed in said application, "C" and "D" dry cells were well known and commercially available. Notwithstanding the general knowledge relating to electrochemical systems in which depolarizers are of a charge-transfer complex type and the anodes are of various metals such as lithium, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,653,966, 3,660,163, 3,723,183, 3,817,791, 3,874,929, 3,937,635, 3,957,533, 4,049,890 and 4,072,803, such systems were not used in "C" and "D"-type applications. Although lithium halide type batteries were found to have extended life and capacity for use in devices such as cardiac pacemakers and watches, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,660,163, 3,674,562 and 4,148,975, they were found to be deficient since they did not have necessary power capacity for high drain applications such as in battery powered flashlights.
The batteries disclosed in Ser. No. 136,935 are not anticipated to have the same current capacity as conventional alkaline or mercury dry cells. They are, however, suitable for use in numerous applications requiring extended life or applications not requiring long periods of high drain.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved structure and method of assemblying such batteries to obtain increased performance and reliability. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a battery having more active material together with improved interfacing of the stacked array of cells. In addition, internal connections are eliminated or integrated so as to increase reliability and uniformity of performance of the battery.